CWD character?

[Rona]

Originally Posted by hanninadina

Nice pictures, but have polish people only have big dogs? Looks like.

You mean big in size? No, Polish people also own small dogs, as you can see here:
http://picasaweb.google.pl/rpaszkows...43653242629570
http://picasaweb.google.pl/rpaszkows...92271262558658
http://picasaweb.google.pl/rpaszkows...73269514164402

Originally Posted by hanninadina

Rona, isn´t your csw not a young one about now 1,5 year old?

Yes, Lorelei is close to 22 months now, but she's not our first CSV. Before we owned Tina for 14 years.

Originally Posted by hanninadina

I am asking this because seeing this pictures people who does not know the breed csw can belive that they are always without problems with other dogs on dogplaygrounds. In the german forum we just discuss this and the majority wrote that getting adult the csw is not playful with other dogs. Pavel wrote in concrete the only pack for your csw is your own pack.

I suppose you're right and the majority of CSV cannot run freely in public places, but I agree with Marcy, that some are able to.

However,
1. I was told and could observe myself several times that if a young CSV made friends with other dogs, established the hierarchy and met them more or less regularly, these relationships tended to "survive" after the CSV matured. That's one of the reasons why we put so much emphasis on socialisation.
I was hoping my post and the links might help new or potential owners realize how important this was.

2. I should also think that CSVs that live in dog packs might have more of a "us and them" attitude, thus are more hostile towards dogs from outside their pack, than a CSV that lives among 'human pack' only.

Originally Posted by hanninadina

That must be said, csw with the age from around 2,5, 3 years are not able to play with others dogs, they do not like them.

Christian, I wonder why your statements are always so definite in tone, even when you're writing about your personal experiences?

I'm far too humble to claim that I'm 100% sure my CSV will be always as good with dogs as she is now, but I've met a few CSVs that contradict your opinion. Here is a male CSV we occasionaly meet at Błonia. The owners are careful when dominant males are around, but the dog has very good recall, so this is not a real problem. NB Marcy had a chance to meet him last year and may confirm that he's still quite playful although 5 years old now.

Rona, these are really cool pictures, especially the last ones of the csws playing together.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked them.

[Gypsy Wolf]

Regarding the above post about a CsV's obedience on the SchH field once it has been taught exercises - I think that would depend entirely on the dog, handler and how it has been trained. My girl is very young, but quite intense, and I suspect I will see some "civil" or "defense" drive in her soon. She had a male helper work her for the first time this weekend and she was much more "serious" than she normally is with the female helper working her. Her little body was tense and she was not "playing" so much - she was seriously watching the male helper. I will have to make sure we channel this appropriately.

[soniakanavle]

Hey Rona, love the pictures too!! So happy to see happy Wolfdogs playing!

Originally Posted by Rona

I suppose you're right and the majority of CSV cannot run freely in public places, but I agree with Marcy, that some are able to.
[font=Verdana]
However,
1. I was told and could observe myself several times that if a young CSV made friends with other dogs, established the hierarchy and met them more or less regularly, these relationships tended to "survive" after the CSV matured. That's one of the reasons why we put so much emphasis on socialisation.
I was hoping my post and the links might help new or potential owners realize how important this was.

I definitely noticed that with my boy, he was very social and loved all other dogs and playing with everyone, especially his 'pack' [my family's dogs] and had no problems at our daily visit to the dog park up until he was about 1 1/2 to 2 years old. Then his behavior changed even though our routine didn't. He started sticking closer to me instead of playing with other dogs [except for his steady friends] and nowadays, at 5 years old, he doesn't like meeting new dogs very much [he's very territorial] but he still LOVES his original 'pack' [his family/all the dogs he met when he was young] and is always SO excited to see them throughout the years. He accepts new dogs after a couple meetings but not on first sight, like my moms new Newfoundland pup, Flint was annoyed with at first but accepeted him after he made sure he showed his dominace. [Good thing cause now at 1 year old, the Newfie TOWERS over Flint but he still acts tiny around him! ]
Also I've noticed that he generally gets along better with other male dogs, though I was told they would get along better with the opposite sex.
Is there much of a different in how males and females get along normally??
Flint gets along great with other intact males his age with never a slightest problem but once a Great Dane bitch [in heat even!] came a little too close to his food bowl and he got pretty mad at her!!! Pretty silly I think.
Except for my GSD bitch.They were inseparable from the moment they met. To him, she was his mother/sister/mentor/bestfriend/lover and he idolized her. Even in her failing years, when she couldn't keep up with him anymore, when roughhousing he would slow down and let her 'catch' him and instantly drop to the ground and roll over at the slightest touch of her teeth to his scruff. They were a great pair and I'm really thinking of getting another GSD or CsV soon to fill the emptiness she left behind. RIP.

Flint enjoying glorious snowy snowy freedom.

Playing on the beach with some of his friends, Chezwick, a McNab and Toast, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

Flint and Jackyl, my GSD.

[Rona]

Originally Posted by soniakanavle

Also I've noticed that he generally gets along better with other male dogs, though I was told they would get along better with the opposite sex.
Is there much of a different in how males and females get along normally??

Lovely photos!
As Christian stated I'm too inexperienced to discuss this matter but I've noticed that since Lorka was around 16-17 months she started showing preferences - she likes some dogs more than others. She loves the "old friends" which she has probably close to a 100 , and all the new ones that she meets which are not afraid of her. The sex, size, age does not matter at all. So far she has two dogs towards which she shows hostility and growls "seriously" at them: a 5 year-old male greyhound and a 2-year old female labrador. The only thing they have in common is that they both visibly show fear when she approaches them.

With Tina we had similar experienced to yours with Flint. Tina used to be very friendly when a pup, then, when maturing - we had to be careful with unknown dogs, but when she was around 6 - 7 she could be trusted again. When seeing a new dog, she used to slowly approach him/her wagging her tail, if the dog returned frindship, they played together, if showed hostility, she walked away with her tail up, sometimes growling. During her lifetime she had just a few incidents with other dogs, never really serious. But she had a few enemies which she really hated and we had to be careful.